SAFA — Israeli filmmaker and journalist Yuval Abraham has praised Palestinian journalists in Gaza for documenting Israeli crimes throughout the war despite suffering a devastating death toll, saying their reporting has been repeatedly suppressed and denied.

Abraham made the remarks while accepting the Special Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice Film Festival for NAZA, a documentary he co-directed with Israeli filmmaker Rachel Szor examining Israel’s military targeting systems and the mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Abraham said Israeli intelligence officers interviewed for the documentary described the mass killing of Palestinians as systemic rather than accidental, linking it to policies and practices rooted in the “total dehumanization of Palestinians.”

He stressed that the reality in Gaza had been documented “from the very first day” by Palestinian journalists working under extraordinary danger.

More than 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza, Abraham said, while their reporting and testimony have frequently been suppressed, dismissed or denied.

“Denying a crime is what contributes to its persistence,” Abraham said, stressing the importance of Israelis seeing the documentary and confronting what is being done in their name.

He also called on audiences in Europe and the United States to confront their governments’ role in supporting Israel as the war in Gaza continues.

NAZA is based on testimony from 24 Israeli military and intelligence insiders and examines systems used by the Israeli military in Gaza, including the use of artificial intelligence in targeting operations that have resulted in large numbers of Palestinian civilian casualties.

The documentary has triggered fierce backlash in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned it as “shocking incitement,” while Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir accused the filmmakers of presenting a distorted picture of the military.

The documentary has intensified attention on Palestinian journalists who have documented the destruction and killing in Gaza despite unprecedented dangers, while international journalists have faced severe restrictions on independently entering and reporting from the enclave.